Year 4 of the Matt Rhule Era: Will Husker Fans Still Be On Hold?

In just four days, the 2026 Cornhusker football season will begin with a home game vs. the Ohio Bobcats. (Former Husker head coach was the Bobcats' head coach from 2005-2020.)

The game will be the first of three Husker home games featuring teams that hail from the Buckeye state of Ohio. Coming up September 12th is
Bowling Green followed by the current number one team in the nation, Ohio State, on November 21st.

Because of Nebraska’s mediocre performances over the past nine years, many Husker fans I’ve talked with are not optimistic about
Matt Rhule’s Year 4 team.

And with good reason.

Nebraska ended last year with a thud. The thud included three blowout losses to Penn State (37-10), Iowa (40-16) and Utah (44-22).
And after three years of the Rhule Era at Nebraska, NU is 19-19. True, the Huskers are coming off two consecutive winning seasons and two
bowl appearances, but fans are longing for more.

The Huskers have yet to beat a ranked team in Rhule’s first three years at Nebraska. And of course there have been
no New Year’s Day bowl games.

Husker fans have looked forward to seeing the new shiny objects the past three years. First it was transfer QB Jeff Sims; the next two years
it was 5 star QB Dylan Raiola. Both QBs ended up transferring.

To be sure, things were worse before Matt Rhule showed up. The question remains: How long will the patience of Husker fans last?

We’ve already seen Husker home game ticket sales sag this year. Will the sellout streak end?

Each year Husker fans keep thinking that next year Nebraska will finally have a breakout season. Are fans running out of next years?

Put On Hold

We’ve all been there. You call a company for customer service and nine out of ten times you’re going to get a recording that goes like this:

“We’re sorry, all of our agents are helping other customers right now. But your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and
someone will help you.”

Then you have to endure sappy elevator music that is interrupted every thirty seconds by a recording that says, “Your call is very important to
us.” After about ten minutes of this nonsense, people just hang up. That’s kind of rut Husker fans have been in for some time. If we’re so
important to you they ask, then why not beat some really good teams?

Of course Husker fans would love to have a natty, but that would be irrational-especially considering NU’s current talent level and its
daunting ‘26 schedule that includes Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, Washington and Iowa.

But maybe-just maybe Nebraska will beat some team it’s not supposed to beat this season. Maybe this year’s shiny new object QB Anthony Colandrea will get the job done.

The Ohio Game

Things to know about the Bobcats:

1.) They were 9-4 last season and ended with a 17-10 Frisco Bowl win over Anthony Colandrea’s UNLV Rebels.

2.) Ohio’s head coach John Hauser is the Bobcats’ third head coach in as many years.

3.) Last year, the ‘Cats beat West Virginia (17-10) and beat Iowa State (10-7) in ‘23.

Summary

It’s going to be sunny, hot Saturday in Lincoln. This game might be more of a challenge for NU, but look for the Huskers to take control in the second half. This is a game NU should win. They do. Huskers will clear the bench, Colandrea’s debut is a 35-10 victory for the Cornhuskers.

The real question is which team Frank Solich is going to root for.

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